The Indiana State Archives has microfilm of many Lake County Court records for
preservation. However, by law, the Archives is not allowed to let a researcher
view these films at the Archives because the records are owned by the county.
The Lake County Court Clerk, Mr. Thomas Philpot, has been kind in giving his
permission for the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society to order these films
for viewing at the Lake County Library. When working with the clerks at the
court house we have discovered that some of these records could not be found
locally.

We hope as the local Genealogical Society we will be able to make the
microfilmed records at the State Archives more accessible to the researcher for
their use in locating a record of their ancestors.

In this book you will find the Wills/Probate Cases filed in Crown Point, Lake
County, Indian. They were microfilmed mostly in alphabetical order by the first
letter of the last name. Dates range from 1855 to the 1930s, by far this book
does not contain all Wills or Probate case filed in Lake County. Many of these
documents are hand written and difficult to read. Therefore, we have placed an
asterisk in the row (UR) with the name. We have arranged the index in two ways:
one in alphabetical order and another in order as on the films. You will also
find that we have indexed in order of last name, a second spelling (when
available), maiden name, middle name or initial, first name, film number, file
date, state the person was from, and a few notes.

Many of the Wills found on these films come from other parts of the country, not
only Lake County, Indiana. The main reason for this is that the document had to
also be filed in Lake County because of the person either owning property here
in Lake County or a beneficiary lived in Lake County. In some case you might
find that a Probate case may be opened in the county where the executor lived,
not where the deceased lived.

If you would like to obtain records of
any of the individuals listed below, then please
complete and follow the directions on the
Lake County
Wills Order Form.